During an assembly held on Tuesday afternoon, May 20, representatives from the James Cancer Hospital gratefully accepted a check from Whittier in the amount of $15,769.20.
The history of the partnership between the James Cancer Hospital and Whittier Elementary School goes back 19 years when a fourth grade student sent a handmade get well card to a patient there. The tradition of sending cards continues, but has mushroomed into an all-year, all-school fundraising effort which this year resulted in a donation to the James in the staggering amount of $15,769.20.
Fundraisers for this school year included:
- Linking Together to Find a Cure, where students paid 25 cents per paper link to be joined together with others and hung in their classrooms;
- Movember, when students who donated 25 cents were allowed to wear moustaches to school in November to bring awareness to men’s cancer issues;
- The Ribbon Board, where students could donate 25 cents to buy a ribbon to recognize a loved one who fought or is currently battling cancer;
- Valentines of Hope in February, where students bought 25 cent Valentines for their friends;
- Hat Day, where students honored chemotherapy patients by donating 25 cents and wearing a hat to school on the day of the James assembly;
- The 5-4-3-2-1 Walkathon, when students in grades 5 and 4 walked 3 miles 2 find the 1 answer (pupils looked for benefactors to sponsor them in this endeavor);
- Best Seat in the House – a 25 cent raffle to win a Massey’s pizza delivered to school for the lucky student and a friend;
- The Market Day pie sale, which raised more than $260;
- The 4th grade Words for Cure poetry and informational night where students wrote and presented poems based on the theme of hope;
- The 4th grade Planting the Seed of Hope concert, which was held in conjunction with the 5th grade Hope Art Show; and
- Project 100, where 32 fourth and fifth grade students worked with 38 area businesses to raise awareness and money for cancer research at the James.
In addition to raising money, Whittier’s 5th graders made more than 85 lap quilts after school for patients at the James.